Opening remarks, Ten Black Forms

Acadia University Art Gallery, by John Greer, 16th of January, 2000

To begin with, I would like to thank Fran and the gallery for giving Acadia students and the community the opportunity to experience serious contemporary art.

Gravity is the shared force between humans and sculpture. Gravity is the coalescing of matter. Form is coalesced matter.

When a sculptor creates a piece of sculpture, he poses a question. The question is: What do you think of this or what do you make of this? The space where the question is overtaken by the answer –
where question and answer are indistinguishable – this space should be maintained as it is the space of engagement, the point of rightness, the point of transitional balance where your mind is open.
Questioning through the use of sculpture achieves a transcendence of mind through matter or a change in consciousness.

Sculpture is thought in form. A meaningful engagement.

We as individuals are grounded in the world by our perception.

The mind, the body and the world are intrinsically connected. I feel it is extremely important to remember that the mind does not operate outside of the body, regardless of your ability to project
yourself into images and ideas.

What is behind the rightness of a moment or the rightness of a thing?

When you have a thought, you roll it around and around in your head and when it comes to rest or makes sense within the order of your thoughts, you are building on the order of your constructed
perception of the world. But what makes it seem to make sense? What has been confirmed and allows it to remain in position? This is where the question and the answer coalesce. This is the engaged
moment.

The entire world of matter is held within this state of transitional balance. This is also true in the cultural world, the world we have thought/ formed into existence.

In my opinion, the works in this exhibition fall within the ideas expressed in my statement. I think this work is relevant and timely. As we go into this new century, where boundaries between
virtual space and physically engaged space appear to blur, it is extremely important that we make the distinction between information and experience, because we don’t live in a virtual world. Our
very survival depends upon our relationship within the world of matter and how we perceive and construct our understanding of the world we find ourselves in. The work in this exhibition reflects and
confirms our place at the moment of engagement. A sense of meaning – a grounding in the world of matter – a point of balance in the field of gravity.